Taking your shirt off at the doctor's office.

fluxrad · #1 12-09-2005, 12:23 AM

Why is it that when a doctor asks you to take your shirt off, they then immediately leave the room? Seriously. I've had this happen to me twice in the past two months, where a doctor will ask me to remove my shirt, then take off. I get to sit there for ~5 minutes while they're off doing god knows what. Then they come back and I start to feel all embarrassed 'cause...hey there, I'm just a guy here with his [censored] shirt off in your office.

What is the rationale behind doctors asking you to do this? My only theory is that they ask you to set there (in a 50 degree room, no less) so that they can break your spirit. That way, you won't freak out when they break the news that you got a skin condition from a nasty skank in Atlantic City I had sex with that one time.

I emplore you. Seriously. What the hell is with the asking to take off the shirt ten minutes before you need to have the shirt off?

TheMainEvent · #2 12-09-2005, 12:24 AM

I'm fairly sure this is an intimidation tactic. It works pretty well too.

tonypaladino · #3 12-09-2005, 12:25 AM

Many doctors are so full of themselves and think their time is so [censored] valuable that they cannot waste time standing there while you take it off. Instead they go do some small task that probably didn't need to be done, just because they feel the need to maintain an image that they are so busy.

benza13 · #4 12-09-2005, 12:26 AM

[ QUOTE ]
That way, you won't freak out when they break the news that you got a skin condition from a nasty skank in Atlantic City I had sex with that one time.

[/ QUOTE ]

I laughed.

Cubswin · #5 12-09-2005, 12:29 AM

Im not sure... i am actually having my first physical in about ten years tomorrow at 8am. ill let you know if he pulls this on me.

btw, anyone know at what age they start doing prostate exams on men? im 27 and so dont want a finger up my ass tomorrow morning.

cubs

Blarg · #6 12-09-2005, 12:31 AM

[ QUOTE ]
Many doctors are so full of themselves and think their time is so [censored] valuable that they cannot waste time standing there while you take it off. Instead they go do some small task that probably didn't need to be done, just because they feel the need to maintain an image that they are so busy.

[/ QUOTE ]

They're definitely world-class full of themselves.

Be glad you're dudes. Many doctors are notorious for asking all women patients to take their clothes off. Even if they're just looking over their feet. Seriously. Some of them describe it as "a perk."

Reqtech · #7 12-09-2005, 12:33 AM

They do this so that they can personally make sure the cameras are set correctly.

dblgutshot · #8 12-09-2005, 12:35 AM

I always wondered this too. My sister is a doctor I'll ask her.

Matt Flynn · #9 12-09-2005, 01:14 AM

[ QUOTE ]
Many doctors are so full of themselves and think their time is so [censored] valuable that they cannot waste time standing there while you take it off. Instead they go do some small task that probably didn't need to be done, just because they feel the need to maintain an image that they are so busy.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yo'd be amazed how slow a man can take off a shirt. There's always a mountain of paperwork to do anyway - it's easily a third of the job time even though it does little to help patients. It ain't an image: they are that busy. Medicine sucks for all concerned.

gorie · #10 12-09-2005, 01:18 AM

ugh. i went to a doctor once who undid my bra himself without warning to listen to my heart or whatever with a stethoscope. and then told me to lay down (with my bra hanging loose). i think i still had my shirt on, but it was creepy and i didn't like it.